Stop & Search

In 2014 Police in Scotland stopped & searched more children than the Metropolitan Police in London.

Police Scotland have admitted to losing 20,000 stop and search records “because someone pressed the wrong button” and continued stopping and searching children after telling Parliament that the practice had stopped.

Police Scotland's use of stop & search was out of control - it's a valuable tactic that can make a real difference but, when used on an industrial scale, it can undermine the Police's relationship with communities.

Liberal Democrat called for all stop & searches to be put on a solid legal footing and establish a code of practice on how it can be used, and we won the argument.

Control room closures

SNP police centralisation has seen police control rooms across the country close their doors, with emergency calls being passed to staff in other parts of Scotland.

People have been forced to wait up to an hour to speak to police staff, and mistakes have been made in how calls are handled.

Willie Rennie led opposition to this closure programme at Holyrood.

Childcare:

Liberal Democrats in government delivered big increases in childcare for families in England but provision in Scotland under the SNP was lagging behind.

Willie Rennie MSP led calls at the Scottish Parliament for the amount of free support for two year old children to be increased.

After telling us for months that this could not be done, finally the SNP agreed to extend free care to thousands of extra two year olds across the Scotland.

Civil Liberties:

Super ID Database

In 2014, the SNP proposed expanding the NHS Central Register and making it accessible to hundreds of government agencies.

The plan was eerily similar to the database at the heart of Labour's ID Card scheme and we, along with privacy campaigners have led the charge against it.

It's been 12 months since the consultation on the super ID database closed & the SNP have yet to respond - but we'll continue our fight against it in the next Parliament.

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